Matthew Sandusky said he escaped years of abuse from his biological family only to be adopted by convicted child molester and serial rapist Jerry Sandusky, then an assistant football coach at Pennsylvania State University.

He met his adoptive father through a football program the elder Sandusky founded. For years, he endured sexual abuse.

Former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky

(Gene J. Puskar/The Associated Press)

On Friday, Matthew Sandusky shared his story to highlight the vulnerability of children stuck in the child welfare system. He was speaking at the Champions for Children benefit, a fundraiser hosted by Texas Lawyers for Children.

“These children need somebody to pull them out of the darkness they’re born into,” he said. “I always thought I would end up in jail or dead because that’s what I was told.”

Dallas Morning News staff writer Robert Garrett and columnist Jacquielynn Floyd were honored at the event for their reporting on failings in the CPS system.

Never once mentioning his adoptive father’s name, Matthew Sandusky described the daily hell he lived under Sandusky's roof, one that drove him to try to take his life at age 17.

He said was first taken into the Sanduskys’ home as a foster child before being adopted, all the while enduring relentless sexual abuse.

His message to the audience was simple: Put your words into actions if you believe in protecting vulnerable children.

“We have to make the protection of children our number one priority,” he said. “You truly have to ask yourself, are you doing enough? As long as children are being hurt, I can answer that for us. We’re not.”

He asked for people to trust their gut, and teach their children to do the same.

“If you feel something, if you see something, you have the responsibility to say something," he said.